- Democrats in the New Mexico state legislature have introduced a bill that would make it a crime to impersonate a fake presidential elector.
- Republican state Rep. Bill Rehm denounced the bill as “politically motivated against other parties” and said the penalties for violating it are particularly harsh.
- Violations are punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
New Mexico Democrats, who control Congress, want to make it a crime to pose as a fake presidential elector in one of the few states where Republicans signed a certification falsely declaring Donald Trump the winner in 2020. I believe.
Lawmakers on Friday voted in a partisan committee to introduce a bill that would make it a felony to “intentionally or recklessly” submit false electoral certificates starting in the 2024 presidential election. The Republican minority in the Legislature would need Democratic support to reject the bill, which carries criminal penalties similar to those being considered in a handful of other states.
Republican electors signed certifications in seven states, mostly battleground states, falsely stating that Trump won the 2020 election, which is at the center of criminal charges against Trump and his associates. It was a strategy.
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President Joe Biden won New Mexico by 11 percentage points, or about 100,000 votes, the largest margin of victory among states implicated in so-called fake electors.
Last year, Republican Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed a bill that would have made it a crime for a losing political candidate to sign a false certification claiming he won, punishable by four to 10 years in prison. In Colorado, where there were no fake elector certificates in 2020, the Democratic-led Legislature is considering a bill that would criminalize participation in a fake elector scheme and ban participation in fake elector certificates. ing.
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torres (D) announced in January his decision not to prosecute local Republicans who signed the electoral rolls, while also discouraging lawmakers from prosecuting similar conduct in the future. It called for legal powers to be granted and the state’s election process to be made more secure.
“We need to recognize the seriousness of this behavior,” he told a state Senate committee in January.
Democratic New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torres speaks during a press conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 18, 2023. (John Austria/Albuquerque Journal, via AP, File)
Friday in Santa Fe, state Rep. Bill Rehm, R-Albuquerque, said the bill is “politically motivated to oppose another political party.” He voted against it, noting that the felony provisions are particularly strict. Violations are punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. He said the fake electors would not have changed Biden’s 2020 victory.
“I don’t think New Mexico had any intention of changing the outcome,” he said. “I think if we could get rid of this underlying politics, things would change.”
New Mexico and Pennsylvania added the caveat that fake electors submitted certificates in case they were later recognized as duly elected and eligible electors. That was only possible if Mr. Trump had won one of the dozens of legal battles he waged against the state in the weeks after the election.
Democratic officials have launched separate investigations in some states that have resulted in charges against Republican electors.
In December, a Nevada grand jury indicted six Republicans on felony charges related to false election certifications. They pleaded not guilty.
In July 2023, the Michigan attorney general filed felony charges against 16 fake Republican electors, including election fraud and conspiracy to commit election fraud. Charges in one of the cases were dropped after a cooperation agreement was reached. The highest charge carried a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
In Georgia, three fake electors, along with Trump, were also indicted on charges of participating in a widespread scheme to illegally overturn the results of the presidential election. They pleaded not guilty.
A New Mexico bill sponsored by Democrats, including House Minority Leader Gail Chasey of Albuquerque, would prohibit the interference with election results by intentionally or recklessly suppressing, tampering with, falsifying, forging or otherwise tampering with election documents; It also provides for a felony penalty for (defined as creating or submitting a false document). election documents.
New Mexico Republican Party Chairman Steve Pierce accused the state attorney general of trying to criminalize a process that was “used by both Democrats and Republicans,” referring to the 1960 presidential election. Democratic electors in Hawaii voted for John F. Kennedy, even though they were initially urged to support Republican Richard Nixon.
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However, the results of the Hawaii election were unclear, necessitating a recount, and Mr. Nixon ultimately lost the state. After the 2020 election, all court challenges by the Trump campaign and its allies challenging Trump’s loss failed.
